One of the food not to be missed in Macau has got to be their Portuguese egg tarts and the place to go to has got to be Margaret’s Cafe e Nata. The place is always packed but the queue clears pretty fast. The crowd ensures that the tarts we get are always freshly baked and served piping hot. The rich custard was soft and of a melt-in-the-mouth texture, while the slightly charred outer flakes exuded a buttery fragrance. We made off happily with a dozen priced reasonably at S$18.

Traditional Macanese food has been heavily influenced by Portuguese cuisine. We paid a visit to one of the well-hailed Macanese restaurants, a 15 minutes walk away from Venetian Hotel, for a taste of this unique cuisine.

Sangria

The garlic shrimps and clams were perfect as the starters. There was a small bar at one corner and we decided to order a jar of highly recommended Sangria. We felt that the alcohol was mild but overall the Sangria was a refreshing beverage to go with the meal.

Charcoal Black Pork Fillet

Charcoal Black Pork Fillet – A mediocre simple western pork chop dish it may seem, we realized that there was really more to this when we began savouring it. The black pork was very soft and tender. The seasonings used gave the pork the extra fragrance, coupled with the fact that there was a mild barbecued taste.

Baked Portuguese Chicken w/rice

Baked Portuguese Chicken w/rice – The uniqueness of this Portuguese dish lies in the combination of a tomato based sauce with the coconut milk for the gravy. In fact, its appearance and taste reminded us of curry, but a non-spicy version, due to the rich coconut milk used. When served piping hot in the claypot, it was good to go with the rice. And there was more to the Baked Portuguese Chicken dish than just chicken. Also found in the claypot were potatoes, Chinese sausages and eggs, on top of the generous portion of chicken meat.

Grilled Codfish w/ Potato & Garlic

Grilled Codfish w/ Potato & Garlic – The codfish was the best dish of the meal. It was grilled to perfection giving a light fish skin crisp while maintaining the richness of the succulent flesh. The stir-fried garlic accentuated the fragrance of the codfish. The only downside was that it tasted a little too salty, almost akin to salted fish.

陶陶居 is a long standing two storey Cantonese restaurant not to be missed when one pays a visit to Macua. Its popularity has resulted in queues of up to an hour for dim sum seatings. For those who are willing to splurge on their cooked dishes on top of dim sum (with minimum spending), the wait could be considerably reduced to 20 minutes with a table on the second storey being secured.

We ordered an assortment of Dim Sum items, including their Char Siew Bun (密汁叉烧包), Satay Squid (沙爹蒸鱿鱼), Braised Chicken Feet (酱皇蒸凤脚), Har Gow (陶陶虾饺皇), Beancurd Skin with Prawns (虾子千层腐皮), all of which met the expectations of a high standard Cantonese restaurant.

Meat Platter

The Meat Platter (烧味拼盘) consisting of Char Siew (叉烧), Roasted Pork Belly (烧肉) and Roasted Goose (烧鹅) came as the starters. The Char Siew came in big slices with a fair balance of fats and lean meat. The marination and the fatty regions gave the char siew its distinctive tenderness and juiciness. The Roasted Pork Belly was equally well done with a charred salted fragrance. In fact, we felt that the platter of meat was of much higher qualities than what most Hong Kong restaurants offered.

Clam Soup (海玉竹无花果炖象拔) – The double-boiled soup made from the stewing of different kinds of clams and chicken feet tasted clear, herbal and light on the palate. We were delighted that there was no hint of fishiness from the seafood in the soup. The ingredients were served separately from the soup. Perhaps due to the long hours of stewing, the chicken feet and clams were rather tasteless. In particular, the clams were very chewy and took us minutes to devour.

Stir-fried Lotus Roots (南乳生炒莲藕片) – The Stir-fried Lotus Roots were not particularly impressive given the sauce that it was cooked in.

Steamed Bamboo Clams with Garlic (蒜茸蒸圣子皇) – These bamboo clams were very fresh and free of the seafood fishiness. The garlic flavoured vermicelli made a good accompaniment too.

Noodles with Boston Lobster (上汤炬波士顿龙虾) – The boston lobster was undeniably good but rather small in portion. The noodles could have been better with more gravy drenched over it to give it a partial soggy cum crispy texture.

(top) Sago Pomelo; (bottom) Creme Brulee

Desserts were Sago Pomelo (杨汁甘露), Creme Brulee (法式焦堂炖蛋) and Red Bean Cake (桂花红豆糕). Despite being a Cantonese restaurant, we were rather impressed by the French Creme Brulee, supposedly the restaurant’s signature and best selling dessert. Saved for the overly thick layer of rock caramel on the top which we felt was the only slight flaw, the Creme Brulee proved to be simply delicious and satisfying with the custard that was sinfully rich, creamy and thick.

The overall meal costs an average of S$50 per pax which was very well value for money given the quality of the food which was comparable, if not better than some of the reputable Chinese restuarants in Singapore.

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We do not aim to promote or discredit any restaurants/food places. This blog is solely an avenue to voice our personal and humble opinions of our food escapades. In no way can any content from our blog be used without our consent.